Virgil
let the father of Aeneas die in Drepana and buries him on MountEryx.

Virgil,
Aeneid III, 79: "... This was the place where, weary as I was with all
the batterings of sea and storm, to my great grief I lost my father Anchises
....".

That does
not bode well for the Romans and they will also have a greater experience of
defeat at this place.

In the
early days of the war (265-241 BC) the Epikratie has not much to do with the
Romans. The battles mainly takes place in the east and south of Sicily. Agrigento, Messana and Syracuse are the foci. It is still the time
that Aphrodite with her doves flew to Sicca Veneria every year, at least in
the minds of the pilgrims there.

This
relatively calm period quickly changes in 262 BC. The Carthaginians had in
fact Celts hired to guard the TempleValley in Agrigento, but those proceeded in pillaging
the city. Then they were just moved to Eryx, which was threatened by the
Romans. The same group of Celts intends to extradite Eryx to the Romans, but
being foiled in time. They still walked over to the Romans and plundered in
the meantime the temple
of Eryx.

E.A.Freeman,
Sicily in
his book (page 281):

"The
Carthaginians strengthened Drepana, the port of Eryx,
and made it one of their chief stations during the remainder of the war."

W.Huss in
his book Die Karthager about Hamilcar in 260/259 BC (page 165):

"Above
all, he transformed Drepana to a strong fortress, transplanted the
inhabitants of Eryx in the new fortress city and piled stocks of all kinds.
Drepana should - as Herakleia and other places - be one of the points where
would break the invincibility of the resistance of the Romans. "

(translated
from german)

The
people of Eryx moves to Drepana, probably to make the place more resilient.
What kind of people came into Drepana. Probably a mixture of Phoenicians,
Greeks and Elymians joined the predominantly Carthaginian population of Drepana.

A few
years it seems to succeed to deter the Romans. So sailed Cn.Cornelius Scipio
Asina and A.Atilius Caiatinus with 300 ships along the north coast of Sicily in 254 BC. They
overwhelmed Panormos, but they did not succeed in taking Drepana because
Carthalo rushed the beleaguered city to help." (translated from german)."
(Werner Huss Die Karthager, p 171).

When in
251 BC, the so-called elephant army of Hasdrubal is defeated under the walls
of Panormos, the situation for the Carthaginians deteriorates dramatically.
They only keep the strongholds Eryx, Drepana and Lilybaeum. The Romans now
concentrate on Lilybaeum and begin to lay siege to that city.

Suddenly
the focus is now on Drepana and not on Eryx in the referencing between the
two settlements. Eryx is now only an outpost becoming in the front line,
where mainly mercenaries serving, while the temple is still in business.

Pomponius Mela (II 119):

"From
the mountains Eryx is the most called because of an Aphrodite sanctuary
founded by Aeneas ....".